Device for transporting gripper shuttles in a loom



E. PFARRWALLER 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 April 9, 1957v DEV ICQ FORTRANSPORTINGGRIPPER SHUTTLES IN A LOOM Filed March 31, 1954 uvvsiyrok'.

ERWIMH-ZERWALI LEE Arm/6121512 Apnl 9, 1957' E: PFARRWALLER ,7 ,0

DEVICE FOR TRANSPORTING GRIPPER SHUTTLES IN A LOOM Filed March :51, 1954a Shee'ts-Sheet 3 Fig. 8 Fig. 9

68 67 66 72 65 55 62 as 67 66 72 as 55 52 INVENTOR.

. ERWIN H-AkRWALLE/a VBY ATTOR/VEK United States Patent l DEVICE FORTRANSPORTING GRIPPER SHUTTLES IN A LOOM Erwin Pfarrwaller, Winterthur,Switzerland, assignor to Sulzer Frres, Socit Anonyme, a corporation ofSwitzerland Application March 31, 1954, Serial No. 420,103Claimspriority, application Switzerland April 11, 1953 12 Claims. (Cl.139125) The present invention relates to a device for transportinggripper shuttles in a loom form a conveyor returning idle shuttles intothe position from which the shuttles are picked after having a weftthread connected therewith. The new device comprises a shuttle transferelement or shuttle carrier which is swingable on a shaft. The bearingsof the latter are movable at a right angle to the shuttle picking path.

The novel features which are considered characteristic of the inventionare set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The inventionitself however and additional objects and advantages thereof will bestbe understood from the following description of an embodiment thereofwhen read in connection with the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 isa diagrammatic illustration of a loom for weaving as seen from the clothbeam side;

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional View of a part of the picking mechanismaccording to the invention;

Fig. 3 illustrates a portion of Fig. 2 showing an opener for a weftthreadclamp mounted on a shuttle;

Fig. 4 is a part-sectional top view of the mechanism shown in Figs. 2and 3;

Fig. 5 is a top view of a shuttle carrier or lifter according to theinvention;

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of a portion of the pickingand'shuttle return mechanism according to the invention;

Fig. 7 illustrates the shuttle lifter according to the invention in aplurality of operating positions;

Figs. 8 to 10 are kinematic diagrammatic illustrations of the mechanismaccording to the invention in three different operation positions.

The same numerals designate the same parts in all figures. 7

Referring more particularly to Fig. 1 of the drawing, the drive of theloom includes a motor 11 which is mounted on a right side shield 12 andwhich drives a belt pulley 14 by means of a belt 13. A disc clutchmounted in the pulley 14 and not shown drives the main shaft 15 of theloom. The shaft 15 primarily drives the parts of the loom which must bemoved permanently or intermittently during normal operation of the loom.The shaft 15 actuates the warp beam 16 and the Warp 17 which movesthrough the heddles supported by one or a plurality of frames 18, thelatter being actuated by the shaft 15 for opening, closing, and changingof the shed. The shaft 15 also actuates the warp actuating beam 19 andthe cloth .beam 20 for winding the cloth 21.

A picking mechanism 22 and a shuttle receiving mechanism 23 are alsodriven by the shaft 15 by means of intermediatedrives. A weft thread '25is transferred to a shuttle v24 in the picking mechanism 22. The weftthread is pulled from a spool 27 supported by a carrier 26 outside ofthe shuttle .24and is picked .by the shuttle 24 through the shed towardsthe receiving mechanism ,23,

A 2,788,022 Patented Apr. 9, 1957 whereupon the weft thread 25 is beatenup by means of a lay actuated by the shaft 15.

The shuttle 24, after the weft thread 25 has been disengaged therefrom,is moved onto a return mechanism 28 by suitable means in the receivingmechanism 23. The return mechanism, driven by the main shaft 15, returnsthe idle shuttle 2% below the shed from the receiving mechanism to thepicking mechanism.

A drive 31 for a fabric control beam 19 is mounted on a left side shield29 which is connected with the right side shield 12 by means of a boxgirder 30 to form a rigid frame for the weaving machine. The angularposition of the beam 19 relatively to the zero position of the mainshaft 15 can forwardly and backwardly be changed by meansrof a handwheel 32 by means of a suitable control mechanism.

Control levers 33 and control shaft 34 afford actuation of the abovementioned clutch by means of a linkage 3.5 and of a brake disk by meansof a linkage 36 for starting and stopping the loom from both sides ofthe loom. The brake, which is in a housing 37 and mounted on the mainshaft 15, is applied at improper operating conditions afterdisengagement of the disk clutch in the belt pulley 14 for immediatelystopping the main shaft 15 and all parts driven thereby. The brake inthe housing 37 is disengaged in known manner by means of a control lever33 without engaging the clutch in the disc 14. Thereupon thedisconnected main shaft 15 can be turned by means of a handwheel 38 sothat the loom parts driven thereby assume a desired position forrestarting the loom.

As seen in Fig. 2, a shaft 40 supporting a cam element 41 is revolvablysupported in the casing 22 of a shuttle picking mechanism. The shaft isrevolved through a bevel gear wheel 42 by the main shaft 15 ,of the loomby conventional means, not shown. The cam element 41 is in the shape ofa drum having two cam grooves 43 and 44, in which run cam followerrollers 45 and 46, respectively, which are mounted on two-arm levers 4,7and 48, respectively. The levers 47 and 48 swing on shafts 49 and 50,respectively, which are supported by the casing 22. A link 51 is pivotedto the upper end of the lever 48, the link being pivoted by a pin 60 toashuttle carrier or lifter 52. The latter is provided with a shuttlereceiving channel 53 and rests on a plate 54, if it is in the positionshown in Fig. 2. The lifter 52 can be swung on a pivot 55 fortransporting a shuttle 5% to the horizontal picking position. The lever47 is pivoted to a link 56 which is connected by means of a bolt (Fig.3) with an opener 57 for a clamp 58 in the shuttle 59. The clamp opener57 is supported coaxially of the shuttle lifter 52 and revolves on anaxis 55.

The axis or shaft 55 is supported by a slide 62 which is movable in twoguides 63 (Fig. 4). The latter are closed on top by cover plates 61connected with the casing 22, one of the plates 61 serving as anabutment for the shuttle lifter 52 when the latter is in the positionfrom which the shuttle is picked. The slide carrying the shaft 55 isformed as a bracket guided by the guides 63 and has a guide rod 65connected thereto. The rod 65 has a collar 66 against which abuts oneend of a compression spring 67. The rod is surrounded by an annularmember 68 which is loose on the rod 65 and abuts against the other endof the spring 67. The member 68 abuts against a projection 69 of thecasing 22 and guides the rod 65 in a bore 70.

The spring 67 abutting against the member '68 and thereby against thecasing 22, urges the collar 66 and'the rod 65 with the slide member 62to the right until it abuts against the stationary abutments 64. Aretainer ring 71 inserted in an annular groove of the rod 65 holds themember 68 and the spring 67 on the .rod, when the slide 62 is 6dismantled. The upper end of the lever 47 is provided with a fork 72receiving the rod 65.

The shuttle lifter is shown in Figs. 2 and 6 in its lowest shuttlereceiving positiomthe shuttle 59 being pushed into the shuttle receivingchannel 53 of the lifter 52 by means of a pusher 74 which is insertedina roller chain laid around a chain wheel 73 and which forms part of ashuttle return mechanism 28.

If, due to an operating irregularity, two shuttles 59 are pushed alongby a pusher 74, the first shuttle would push away a plug 83 which isheld in position by a weak plate spring 82 and the second shuttle wouldbe pushed to the correct position in the channel 53. The plug 83normally serves merely as an abutment.

In Figs. 3, 4 and 5 the shuttle lifter 52 is shown in the horizontalposition from which a shuttle 59, which is in the picking path 75, maybe picked. After a weft thread 25 has been connected with the shuttle inthe conventional manner, the opener 57 is pulled out of the clamp 58.The cam groove 43 causes counterclockwise rotation of the lever 47rotating the opener 57 while the lifter 52 remains in the horizontalposition. The shuttle 59 may now be accelerated and picked through theshed by means of a picker 76 having a picking element 77 and a pickingpin 78.

The weft thread 25 unwound from the spool 27 which is held to theshuttle 59 by means of the clamp 58 is covered by the cover 79 whichcloses part of the top of the channel 53 (Fig. 5). The cover 79 has anarcuate edge 81. If the shuttle lifter 52 would be swung back on theaxis 55 in position 0 (Fig.7), from picking position to shuttlereceiving position, the cover 79 would engage and take the weft threadalong until the thread slides off the edge 81.

Sensitive yarns may be greased or blackened when contacting the edge 81.For this reason, the return path of the shuttle lifter 52 is diiferentfrom the path toward the picking position. After the shuttle 59 has beenpicked, the parts of the mechanism according to the invention are in theposition shown in Fig. 8. In order to prevent contact of the weft thread25 with the shuttle lifter 52 and the cover 79, the cam groove 43 is soformed that the lever 47 is revolved counterclockwise until the fork 72abuts against the collar 66 and compresses the spring 67. The slide 62is thereby pulled to the left (Fig. 9). Not until then is the lever 48actuated for revolving the shuttle lifter 52 on the axis 55.

Fig. 7 illustrates different positions of the shuttle lifter 52. Thepoint corresponding to the thread 25, i. e. the longitudinal axis of theshuttle 59, moves from point 0 via point 1 to point 2, the lever 48 aswell as the lever 47 moving according to the configuration of the camgrooves 44 and 45 until the parts reach the position shown in Fig. 9.

The movement of the lever 47 is reversed to the clockwise directionafter the longitudinal axis of the shuttle has reached the point 2, sothat the receiving channel 53 is turned downwards and the longitudinalaxis of the shuttle passes successively through the points 3, 4, 5, and6 (Fig. 7). Due to the clockwise rotation of the lifter 47, the spring67 is released and the slide 62 is moved to its right extreme position(Fig. The shuttle clamp opener 57 has arrived in its low startingposition in which the opener clears the channel 53 for receiving ashuttle. In the position of the lever 47 shown in Fig. 9, the opener 57has moved to the left beyond the starting position.

The use of the lever 47 for moving the slide 62 has the advantage thatonly a few additional parts are needed and additional grooves, requiringa longer member 41, are avoided.

The support of the pin 55 in the slide 62, the guidance of the rod 65 inthe member 68, and the use of relatively long links 51 and 56, which arealmost at the same elevation as the rod 65 and which are parallel to therod 65, produce the desirable result that the shuttle lifter 52 and theopener 57 can be quickly taken out after removal of the cover plates 61and can be easily checked, cleaned and reinserted.

While a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown anddescribed, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variouschanges, modifications, substitutions, additions and omissions may bemade therein without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a loom for weaving having gripper shuttles for picking weftthreads through the shed from a weft thread supply which is locatedoutside of the shuttles: a shuttle picking mechanism, a shuttlereceiving mechanism, return means for returning idle shuttles from saidreceiving mechanism to said picking mechanism, a shuttle carrier adaptedto receive a shuttle from said return means and to transport it to theposition from which the shuttle is picked, a pin swingably supportingsaid carrier, the longitudinal axis of said pin being at a right angleto the picking path of the shuttles, a movable support for said pin, andguide means for guiding said support to move in a direction at a rightangle to the longitudinal axis of said pin.

2. In a loom for weaving having gripper shuttles for picking weftthreads through the shed from a weft thread supply which is locatedoutside of the shuttles: a shuttle picking mechanism, a shuttlereceiving mechanism, return means for returning idle shuttles from saidreceiving mechanism to said picking mechanism, a slide forming part ofsaid picking mechanism, and a shuttle carrier swingably mounted on saidslide, said shuttle carrier being adapted to receive a shuttle from saidreturn means and to transport it to the position from which the shuttleis picked, said slide being movable in a direction affording movement ofthe swing axis of said carrier at a right angle to the picking path ofthe shuttle.

3. In a loom as defined in claim 2, said slide being in the form of aU-shaped bracket whose legs are slidably supported, a rod connected withsaid bracket, at the base of the U, and a helical compression springwound around said rod and having one end connected with the rod, theother end of said spring resting against a Sta tionary part of saidpicking mechanism.

4. In a loom according to claim 3, a cam, a lever, a cam followerconnected with said lever and engaging said cam, and a link positionedsubstantially parallel to said rod and connecting said lever with saidshuttle carrier.

5. In a loom for weaving according to claim 3, in which the grippershuttles have clamps for gripping a weft thread: an opener for the clampof a gripper shuttle, said opener being swingably mounted on said slidefor swinging on the same axis as said carrier, a cam, a lever, a camfollower connected with said lever and engaging said cam, and a linkpositioned substantially parallel to said rod and connecting said leverwith said opener.

6. In a loom for weaving according to claim 3, in which the grippershuttles have clamps for gripping a weft thread: an opener for the clampof a gripper shuttle, said opener being swingably mounted on said slidefor swinging on the same axis as said carrier, a first cam, a firstlever, a cam follower connected with said first lever and engaging saidfirst cam, a first link connecting said first lever with said opener, asecond cam, a second lever, a cam follower connected with said secondlever and engaging said second cam, and a second link connecting saidsecond lever with said carrier, said links being positionedsubstantially parallel to said rod.

7. In a loom for weaving according to claim 6, said cams being formed bygrooves in the surface of a drum.

8. In a loom for weaving according to claim 6, in which said first leveris provided with a fork straddling said rod and the latter has a collaradapted to abut against id f r 9. In a loom for weaving having grippershuttles for picking weft threads through the shed from a weft threadsupply which is located outside of the shuttles, the weft threads beinggripped by thread clamps connected with the shuttles: a shuttle pickingmechanism, a shuttle receiving mechanism, return means for returningidle shuttles from said receiving mechanism to said picking mechanism, ashuttle carrier adapted to receive a shuttle from said return means andto transport it to a position from which the shuttle is picked, a pinswingably supporting said carrier, the longitudinal axis of said pinbeing at a right angle to the picking path of the shuttles, a movablesupport for said pin, guide means for guiding said support to move in adirection at a right angle to the longitudinal axis of said pin, and anopener for the clamp of the shuttles, said opener being swingable on thesame axis as said carrier.

10. In a loom for weaving having gripper shuttles for picking weftthreads through the shed from a Weft thread supply which is locatedoutside of the shuttles: a shuttle picking mechanism, a shuttlereceiving mechanism, return means for returning idle shuttles from saidreceiving mechanism to said picking mechanism, and a shuttle carrieradapted to receive a shuttle from said return means and to transport itto the position from which the shuttle is picked, a pin swingablysupporting said carrier, the longitudinal axis of said pin being at aright angle to the picking path of the shuttles, a movable support forsaid pin, and guide means associated with said support for guiding thelatter to move in a direction at a right angle to the longitudinal axisof said pin, said carrier being provided with a cover plate having anarcuate edge extending in a direction which is substantially parallel tothe picking path.

11. In a loom for weaving having gripper shuttles for picking weftthreads through the shed from a weft thread supply which is locatedoutside of the shuttles: a shuttle picking mechanism having a casing, ashuttle receiving mechanism, return means for returning idle shuttlesfrom said receiving mechanism to said picking mechanism, a shuttlecarrier adapted to receive a shuttle from said return means and totransport it to the position from which the shuttle is picked, a pinswingably supporting said carrier, the longitudinal axis of said pinbeing at a right angle to the picking path of the shuttles agmovablesupport for said pin, guide means for guiding'said support to move in adirection at a right angle to the longitudinal axis of said pin, andabutments connected with said casing, said carrier resting against oneof said abutments when said carrier is in one of its extreme positions.

12. In a loom for weaving having gripper shuttles for picking weftthreads through the shed from a weft thread supply which is locatedoutside of the shuttlesi 'a shuttle picking mechanism, a shuttlereceiving mechanism, return means for returning idle shuttles from saidreceiving mechanism to said picking mechanism, and a shuttle carrieradapted to receive a shuttle from said return means and to transport itto the position from which the shuttle is picked, said carrier beingswingable for movement between a shuttle receiving position and ashuttle picking position, said carrier including a portion horizontallyoverhanging the longitudinal axis of the shuttle and being carried bythe shuttle when the shuttle is in the picking path, means forwithdrawing said overhanging portion from the vertical plane of thepicking path coincident with the swinging of the carrier from itspicking position to its receiving position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,420,380 Moessinger May 13, 1947

